Michael Badnarik on War & Peace

Libertarian Party nominee for President

More Americans are opposing Iraq War

More and more Americans are coming to oppose the war, the war hawks and high government officials are beginning to distance themselves from the president, and the U.S. seems more willing than ever to pull out of Iraq.

Source: Campaign website, badnarik.org, "Issues"
Jul 13, 2004

Retaliating for 9/11 ok; War on Terror too vague

Q: What would you have done as President when the World Trade Center was attacked?

A: A policy of strict non-intervention should not be construed to be an indication of pacifism. The Libertarian philosophy says that you cannot INITIATE the use of force
However we have every right to retaliate against an unprovoked attack. Had I been President on Sept. 11, I would have gathered all of the evidence available to our intelligence agencies, and I would have shared that information with the American people.
Then I would have insisted on a declaration of war from Congress before I deployed any of our troops. More important still would have been a well defined mission statement that would clearly identify what conditions constitute an end to the war.
The current administration has declared a "war on terrorism" which is a broad abstract concept. Since there are no clear boundaries as to what constitutes terrorism, this war is one that could presumably last even longer than the ill-fated War in Vietnam